Kikara Continued
by ZeoViolet
Summary: Continuaiton of Kikara, by Mystic Mewtwo. She asked me to continue this for her. Make sure you've read what she has first.
1. Crystal Rainbows

_**SPECIAL NOTICE: **Please, before you read this go and read "Kikara" by Mystic Mewtwo, here on also, because this is a continuation of that story.....from a midpoint through it. I have permission, folks, and her blessing!_

_**Disclaimer: ** I do not own Pokemon, and I do not originally own the character Ki. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Ki originally belongs to Mystic Mewtwo. She graciously offered the chance for this story to continue through me, and I accepted. She never wanted to see this story die entirely. I have her permission and support to do so, and with the exception of a few paragraphs below, from now on the story is in my words, and most likely goes in quite a different direction than originally intended, but I still hope to make it a good story nonetheless. I do, however, own the character Sharie Triesta, and if you are familiar with my writings, she will be in here too, similar but a bit different as circumstances permit._

_I will not try to duplicate her writing style, because I cannot and will not screw with perfection. However, I do promise to leave the characters as intact as I am able, despite having to lose Ki's first-person perspective and typical of this series. I fear if I tried that I would truly ruin the story. The story starts a bit earlier than when Mystic Mewtwo left off, because I wanted to make my own start. Hope you enjoy it anyway. These first paragraphs are the break-off point, and Mystic Mewtwo's words. After that, mine starts._

I turned my eyes to the windows. I watched the snow fall from the sky, piling layer after layer onto the palace, and the ground below.  
I thought about my parents. Who were they? Where were they from?  
Most of all, I thought about my mother. Didn't she feel happy at all to have me?  
Did she even love me to begin with?

I slipped a hand under my stomach, and felt how flat it was. I missed the feeling of being pregnant so much.  
I loved my babies from the day I found out I was expecting. I couldn't have been happier. Did my mother feel such happiness when she discovered me? Did she love to touch, and feel her swollen belly as much as I did when I was pregnant?

And what about my father? Was he happy when my mother was pregnant?  
If either of them even loved me enough to have me, then why was I abandoned? Why was I left alone to quite possibly die?  
Maybe I wasn't wanted as much they thought they did.

I sighed deeply, and wiped away the tears that had started running down my cheeks. I nestled closer in Mewtwo's fur, and his arms closed around me tighter.  
I don't know why my mind still dwelled on the subject. They were gone now, and I was here.  
I had a mate who loved me very much, and five wonderful children created from this same love.

But I still wondered sometimes… Would I ever find out my origin?  
I stared out at the snow. Maybe I never would.

I turned my eyes away from the window, and closed them. I soon drifted off to sleep.

-----------------------------------------

The girl had been floating in midair over the waves, one slender foot in the cool ocean, the other locking behind her calf. The amethyst aura surrounding her was tinged very slightly red as she summoned internal heat, so she didn't freeze hovering out here, on Christmas Eve, alone of all days.

Alone. She was used to that, and usually preferred it.

Even on Christmas Eve. The thought was disquieting, but she could not deny who she was.

The shore wasn't far behind her, or her small vacation house one of her uncles owned and she was now indefinetly borrowing. Pallet Town wasn't far beyond it. She'd been here for a few days already, and had no idea when she'd move on again.

Still, if anyone came by just now she knew they'd be in for a surprise. Humans usually didn't apparently defy gravity.

At the moment she didn't really care. She'd come here to meditate. There were days her emotions reflected the rolling, rising waves, and it was a small comfort to directly connect with the sea's life itself, the life in the waves, and let it drain some of her turmoil.

Her foot in the water made her feel a connection to a force much larger than she was, a vast space to drain her feelings into. The calm that flooded her, letting it scour at her emotions and swirl them away, was a big help when she really needed it.

However, it being December, it was necessary to use internal heat so dipping her foot into the ocean didn't freeze the limb. Psychic she was; invincible she wasn't.

She was dragged quite sharply out of her trance when a fiery, electric sensation raced along her toes. With a surprised gasp she involunatrily jerked her foot out of the water. _Cold!_

Much colder than it had been.

Shocked, she looked upwards.

Snowflakes.

Strangely beautiful crystal snowflakes.

She'd heard whispers that Pallet Town hadn't had snow for years, at least not on Christmas.

She rubbed her numb foot against her leg, smiling ruefully. _So some people will get a pleasant surprise this year....Perhaps even more, these snowflakes remind me, somehow, of crystal....and they're so white....._

She swallowed against the rising tide of emotions suddenly attempting to swell from within, and decided not to let her thoughts veneer down that direction right now. She'd never experienced that pain-filled episode in her parent's life, but she still felt it, and reflected heavily on it.

She felt something akin to electricity again charge at and around her, but this time it wasn't in the ocean, and it didn't seem quite having to do with the weather itself.

It definetly wouldn't if it suddenly registered on her psionic plane as it was doing right now.

The shivery feeling shot straight up her spine. _What the.....this wasn't natural weather..... _

She trembled slightly and crossed her arms over her chest, clutching at her slender shoulders. No, it wasn't. This was not random snow. She could feel the psychic edge to this. _This was psychic-induced snow._

But who was doing it? Articuno? No, Articuno had general ideals about what random weather it produced. Few other pokemon took it upon themselves to modify weather without just cause, and she could see no cause for this. It was more likely a psychic pokemon, even a Legendary. Only they would have such power, or desire to do this.

It wasn't a stressed-out pokemon, either, the psychic edge conveyed no stress.....

Startled, she opened her mind just a bit further. Anticipation. A surprise. A desire to please. Happiness, and joy.

Faintly, oh, so faintly, it whispered across her senses in a feathery glide before she firmly shoved her barriers back up.

She'd learned enough. She hated mental intrusion and she was not about to poke around in the head of another being. So long as the snow held no malicious intent, she was satisfied. Getting into another's mind without their permission, or letting others see into hers, went against everything she was. She dared not even contemplate the violent reaction that happened when another psychic tried to get into her mind......one se could not even help.

What she felt now had no need of further exploration. Perhaps someone had just wanted to see snow, and knew someone else who could give it to them, and it made them happy.....

No, no need to intrude further, especially since they probably expected nobody could pick up the psychic undercurrents anyway.

Most pokemon, even, could not have picked up what she'd felt just now. She never mentioned these things to anybody if she could help it. If she did, she'd expose her family and it's secrets that had to be kept. She couldn't hurt her father, or the sacred memory of her parent's love that way. Even after being who she was caused her such pain. It wasn't her parent's intents, and they'd loved each other so purely....so ferverently......

Her mother, she remembered, had told of the snowstorm her older sister had been born, small, wet and howling, into......but the snow had been oddly soft, and had quieted when her first cries alterted the world to her new life.....

Now, soft, just like this.....no harm in this snow.....

_And, after all, the snow was so beautiful....so crystal-like and pretty, white and the crystals reflecting a rainbow of colors.....just like precious jewels....._

_------------------------------_

"Shhharrrieee!!! Sharie, where are you? Oh, there you--"

The words, which had begun distantly and swiftly had grown louder over the soft roar of the waves, abruptly died out, the ending syllables dropping off sharply in surprise.

Sharie tried not to wince. She knew she'd been seen.

At least, by the sound of the voice used, soft and yet rather sharp on the edges, she knew at least the person would get over their surprise quickly--when that person was a fellow psychic of sorts, although this fellow psychic didn't make a habit of hovering over waves without a jacket.

"Oh, my gods, you're _hovering_....." whispered the voice, right behind her now on the shoreline.

Sharie smiled and turned quickly around to face a pair of light violet eyes set in a face framed by long dark hair and a mouth that was often set quite firmly, Sharie had noted, with suppressed pain.

"Hello to you to, Sabrina," she greeted with a small, but sincere, smile. Despite Sabrina's rather forceful, stubborn-personality reputation, she had quickly gathered it was only one side to her. She genuinely liked Sabrina, even though they had met only the day before.

Sabrina was still so surprised she could not quite say anything.

"With all your own psychic tricks I am sure you can hover as well," Sharie intoned softly.

"Y...yes...I can....but I guess I wasn't expecting to see you do it, in quite that fashion," Sabrina stammered, her voice coming back to her.

Sharie saw pain flash in Sabrina's violet gaze. She picked up the angst of that pain from the way it flickered through Sabrina's eyes.

"I remind you of someone," said Sharie quietly, sure she was right. Even without using psychic powers she could often read the fine nuances in people's body language, what showed in their eyes....especially their eyes. Eyes were the windows to the soul.

The shocked blinking of eyes, drawing Sabrina out of her trance, told her she had indeed hit her mark.

"I...uh....what are you doing out here, no....jacket, no....no shoes...." Sabrina was, for a moment, wildly trying to cover up what she knew Sharie had picked up upon. She already knew Sharie's extreme reluctance to use her psychic powers on another, and was fairly certain Sharie had not been poking around in her mind.

It had to mean her body language was screaming the pain she felt at the moment. _Gods, she's so much like....She so looks like....._

"I can blot it out, my concern is not for me." Sharie quietly floated across the waves and down, her slender feet touching snow-covered sand. The frozen crystals raced across her skin and nerves like icy fire. She completely ignored it, placing a small hand on Sabrina's shoulder. She was genuinely worried. "My concern is for you."

"Me?" Sabrina finally found her tongue, getting over her surprise and wanting to dart away from the subject. "I am fine, I was just surprised....."

"I know what I saw. I remind you of someone, and that someone likely caused you great pain from what I saw in your eyes moments ago, and just now."

Sabrina stared at her a moment longer, and suddenly, to her own surprise, stopped trying to deny a problem and simply nodded her head.

Sharie's fingers gently tugged at her shoulder, moving them both in the direction of the house nearby. "If you do not feel like saying anything, Sabrina, I will understand. I won't nose into your privacy. I am sorry if I cause you pain."

Sabrina looked at her, surprised. "You do remind me of someone, very strongly in fact, but they are the cause of my distress, or rather my own actions, but it is not _you_," she said quickly, not wanting to give Sharie the wrong idea. "You haven't done anything wrong. I like you."

Sharie's lips quirked upwards in response to this. "But I cause you pain," she said softly. "I don't have to be psychic to tell that. You're bursting with some pain that's haunting you."

"So are you," said Sabrina reflexively, again trying to dart away from the subject. "When I first saw you in the pokecenter yesterday with Nurse Joy I could see it, when you held yourself ungarded for a moment with my sick Alakazam, remember? I can't sense you at all; you're like a rock. Not even my Alakazam can feel you, not even your essence. I've never seen anybody who can do that before. Just a moment, though, something much deeper and painful in your eyes flashed....and I thought...."

Her voice trailed off as she became aware she had made quite a speech without really having been invited to do so.

Sharie, however, seemed to not be thinking this. "And you felt you saw someone you could identify with?" she asked, the edge of her voice becoming a bit lighter for Sabrina's sake.

"A little, yes," said Sabrina, now blushing red, never having meant to admitting that. The other reason was that she'd been startled by the shade of Sharie's very unusual green eyes. They were the exact same color as her sister's had been.

Sharie's eyes, however, as Sabrina had said, were usually like mirrors and did little more than reflect a person's image back to them without her own emotions showing through. It spoke to Sabrina of someone who was very controlled.....probably because she'd been through a lot of pain and often had to exercise such control, for her sake and perhaps for the sake of others.

But that one ungarded moment, in her genuine concern for Alakazam, had reinforced this impression.

Sharie saw the discomfiture in Sabrina's violet eyes and smiled softly. "If you don't want to say anything, don't. I would not hurt you by making you relive whatever pain you have. I am concerned for you, though, because I see you're sad."

The way she smiled suddenly flared through to Sabrina's very core, because the smile, the image of her face and the color of her eyes, resonated so strongly on Sabrina's psyche her eyes filled with tears.

"My sister!" she whispered, unbidden. "You remind me of my sister!"

---------------

Keep checking back on this first chapter, folks, as I plan to update and revise this first chapter as well as adding new ones.


	2. Fortune

_**Disclaimer:** Nintendo owns, I don't. Mystic Mewtwo was the original creator of the character Ki. I was just passed the torch of authorship so such a beloved series would not be lost. (And was extremely pleased to do so.) The IDIC reference comes from Star Trek: The Original Series. Rated PG-13 for profanity._

Kikara continued, chapter 2

By ZeoViolet

Sharie blinked slowly, this not being quite the reaction she'd expected--or had it? "I remind you.....of your sister?"

Sabrina nodded mutely, tears of distress welling further in her light violet eyes.

Without a word, Sharie took her by the hand and led her inside. The psychic gym leader followed without a sound, except for quavering breaths that made it all to clear she was fighting the urge to let her emotions flow.

Sharie was deeply distressed by Sabrina's pain but suddenly had an inkling of why so much pain made her mouth often set so tightly at the lips. Something about her sister? She'd lost her sister, then, perhaps? _If so, that makes two of us....._

Reason enough for a world of pain.

She led Sabrina to a couch, and with a vague gesture of relief, Sabrina sank onto it as if her legs refused to support her anymore.

Sharie sat beside her. Sabrina's fingers trembled in hers, as though reluctant to let go of this supportive touch.

"We only met yesterday, Sabrina, although I like you a lot already. Still, if you don't want to say anything, it is all right. I would not want you feeling uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Sabrina, though her tear-filled gaze, managed a momentary, weak smile. "I'm nearly crying all over your couch and you say uncomfortable?"

Sharie's lips quirked upwards, but her eyes remained sober; genuinely worried for her. "If all you want to do is cry without saying anything, I'm right here. Just let it out. I don't have to probe your mind to see how the pain is shadowing your heart."

Sabrina's lips trembled harder.

"And seeing me causes it to get worse." Sharie could see Sabrina's teetering on the brink of letting that wall around her break and flood open. She hoped she was doing the right thing by subtly encouraging Sabrina to let her pain out, at least some of it.

Sharie rarely interacted with others closely; and she knew full well the intense pain caused by others, and pain not eased through grief or tears, at that. She herself hadn't cried since she was a baby. She'd long since forgotten how, and only buried her pain, buried it deep and dared not touch it for the sake of her own sanity. If she touched that pain too much she was afraid she'd go mad.

There was too much there and kept building up over time, and was always--_always_ with her. Perhaps she'd even turned to ice; she didn't know. No, better distance herself from her own heart or her ability to make sense of what her heart felt, or even aware there was something _there_. She doubted she could do that anymore either.

But it made her all too aware of the pain of others, and she didn't want to see them suffer that way.

"You--you are like my _sister!" _

The dam burst then. Sabrina's face disappeared behind her hands, and Sharie could see her shoulders trembling with soft, intense sobs.

"She is lost to me!" Sabrina wept. "It's all my fault!"

Sharie didn't say anything or offer any advice. Instead she gingerly placed her arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"I should have accepted what she made of her life!" Sharie barely heard Sabrina's whispered words. "I was so shocked at what I saw I couldn't right away and.....and...."

"So she's not deceased?" Sharie voiced her earlier presumption, rather needlessly now. Her voice remained quiet.

"No. But I am likely dead to her. I can't even feel her anymore; she's cut me off completely."

Sharie swallowed. She could easily know how that type of thing hurt.

"I...I never thought she'd mate with a.....a _person_....like she chose to do.....I was just so shocked.....I didn't have enough time, and I said some awful things in my shock....."

"You said something deliberately nasty?" Sharie was rather surprised. That didn't seem quite like the Sabrina she'd come to know, but then she didn't know every facet of Sabrina's personality yet....

"Oh, gods, I hope it wasn't deliberate! I kept telling her to use her head, she couldn't do it that way, to come to her senses.....and she was _pregnant!....._Pregnant with his offspring....It all happened so fast...."

"It was all so much, it happened so fast!" Wildly, one of Sabrina's hands went from her face and groped, finding Sharie's free hand and grasping it hard. "So much violent shock in so short a time, I hadn't seen my sister in months, I was worried sick about her and nobody told me where she was...I....I had to find her myself....I couldn't comprehend it, couldn't absorb it all, not until her mate, he threw me out....._gods_ they both looked so hurt.....they must have been through so much already, and I made it so much worse......"

She looked up then, her face wet with tears, two more trickling down her cheeks. Her light violet eyes peered into Sharie's. "She looked so serene sitting there, before I said those things....heavy with child, her green eyes serene and happy to see me.....eyes colored like yours....." Sabrina trailed off before she could voice the fact that her sister's face had been quite like the face she was looking at now.

"I watched those eyes fill with such pain, and then flare with anger for she has a very quick, rapid and sun-hot temper.....her mate was so hurt and angry, and he threw me out, I know I was lucky to escape with my life.....I can never go back, never tell her how sorry I was....If I'd had just a few more minutes, I could have seen what I see now....she _loved_ him.....loved him deeply or she could never have chosen the path she did. He was too different from others like him, there's nothing wrong with their love, I know it now....."

Sharie just sat there, half deeply moved, and half surprised and puzzled, though she didn't show this to Sabrina. Sabrina had just told her quite a moving story and yet kept it vague, in riddles, not giving specifics of who or where or really, why.

Sharie had a strong feeling Sabrina did that deliberately, for all her loss of emotional control. She was protecting her sister, and she must have loved her very much.

Sharie wasn't going to bother asking for further identifying details. If Sabrina chose not to share them, then that was her business. She'd told Sharie the gist of it, the cause of her pain, and Sharie deeply understood. Personally, she didn't view it as entirely Sabrina's fault. Sabrina's irrational thinking had caused her to place all blame on her shoulders. Sharie knew shared blame when she saw it.

Words cast about in emotional turmoil, as Sabrina had described to her, often were ones the person would never have meant to say otherwise. Sabrina had been in a state of violent shock and hadn't had time to absorb it all before she was thrown out and could think rationally....and the shock must have been a bad one for Sabrina to voice what she'd told Sharie. Sharie knew of Sabrina's temper and forceful personality, but she'd just heard proof positive of it in action.

She also had no doubt Sabrina was telling her the complete truth as she knew it. She would have known instantly if Sabrina had lied. It sounded to Sharie like both Sabrina, and this sister of hers, both had made one helluva mistake and both suffered drastic consequences. Especially when it involved two individuals with such hot tempers and deep passions for those tempers. Sharie could only imagine the collision.

Sabrina didn't say any more, but her sobs softly began dying away. Sharie just held her and let her take her time. Nobody had to tell her Sabrina'd badly needed this release; she could feel it.

She also felt rather bad that her looks caused such a strong resurgence of memory.

After a few moments Sabrina looked up, face wet, a faint smile on her lips and a blush stealing through her cheeks as she realized the depth of emotional control she'd lost in front of a girl she liked but hardly knew.

"I didn't mean to go crying all over the place," she said, embarrassed. "But....thanks."

"I could tell you needed to do that. I'm sorry I make your memories pain you so."

Sabrina continued to smile weakly. "You look like her is all."

Sharie frowned in puzzlement. "You said she was your sister? Doesn't she resemble you at all? I don't look anything like you....."

Sabrina wiped her face and gave a weak laugh. "No, you don't, and neither did she, although our tempers were really apt to flare in similar ways. Our blood isn't the same, but she is my sister."

Sharie took this as to mean her sister was adopted. "Were you close in age?"

"Yes, and no. I'm 25. She......" Sabrina's lips trembled. "Today is her 20th birthday."

Sharie was quiet at this. _Yet another reason seeing me must have pained her.....If I have some resemblence to her AND today was her birthday, and Sabrina must have been hung up on that....._

Sabrina dragged the sleeve of her jacket across her face, drying the last of her tears. "Don't worry, Sharie, the storm has passed. I'll act normal again."

Sharie sensed the subject change and responded to the subtle cue with a smile. "Rumor has it you've a forceful and stubborn personality. Am I going to see that now?"

A weak laugh erupted from Sabrina's throat, and her eyes glimmered faintly, glad Sharie had picked up on her cue to stop talking about her sister. "Well, that depends on how we get along, now doesn't it?"

Sharie's lips quirked. "Did you come over for a reason, before seeing me floating over the ocean underdressed?"

A small laugh escaped Sabrina at that. "I tried to scold you for that! I was just very surprised. Your powers must be beyond mine, like my sister's were." Here Sabrina paled slightly again, but jumped past it quickly. "But yes, I wanted to see if you would come to Pallet Town with me."

Sharie blinked momentarily, not about the offer to go to Pallet Town, but Sabrina's comment about her powers. For a Psychic human, Sabrina was known to be pretty darned powerful, skilled in the arts of trances, psychic attacks, and especially of using Hypnosis and Confusion greatly to her advantage, warping reality. She could literally make others see what she wanted them to see if she chose--something that could be abused if not handled carefully. That too was something Sharie was well aware of, having such knowledge herself...and well beyond.

_For a psychic human. _Sharie was not about to tell her the extent of her own powers, which she was quite certain were well beyond anything even the famous Sabrina could summon.

"Sure, I'll come. It isn't far away. Nurse Joy said I didn't have to show up until late afternoon or evening."

Sabrina smiled. She'd been quite surprised the day before when she saw someone other than a Nurse Joy working in the Pokemon Center. Preholiday prep--and thus preholiday nerves from trainers--had the place busier than usual. Nurse Joy had told her Sharie was more qualified than even she was, as she was actually a scientist like many in her family were.....most were psychics and/or scientists. Sharie, however, seemed quite young for all her experience.

Sharie had blushed wildly red when Sabrina had offhandedly mentioned this to her. Her eyes had lowered, and Sabrina had instantly known she hated people commenting on it.

"I even remember the day I was born--I just never forget anything, like several members of my family are cursed with. I only have to learn it once because of that. And growing up as I did I never lacked for experiences or references, or knowing the pokemon world because I can talk to them. That's about the size of it."

However, Sabrina, being psychic, knew, with comments like that, how to read between the lines. She'd heard of such memories. The fact Sharie'd referred to it as a curse told her more. Everything Sharie ever experienced would be forever burned into her mind with chilling crystal clarity. It was more than never forgetting. It was total reliving of an experience, enhancing and rehashing, more than just "memory".

And with godsawful painful memories, the term "curse" really took on meaning. Sabrina had swallowed to think of how remembering a painful past must be for a person inflicted with that kind of memory.

She'd heard of a few weak-willed individuals who went mad because of it.

But still, it also explained how one would learn very fast. If Sharie was indeed afflicted with that kind of memory, it was no surprise she carried many scientific qualifications, then.

But if her past was as haunted as her eyes had shown, she wasn't weak-willed, either, or she wouldn't be here now.

----------------------------------

The girls arrived in the bustling center of Pallet Town. Snow was still falling, and Sharie's ears caught comments of "I've never seen snow like this--at least not in a long time!" and "It is so pretty--like crystals! And look how the light shines on them--like rainbows!"

Sharie smiled to herself. If they only knew it wasn't just a decision of nature that created it.....

Still, they were right. Unusually large flakes were falling now, and they seemed to resist melting when she knelt and picked up a few. She could see the prismlike effect even a cloudy day had on them--She held one over her other hand and could see the delicate rainbows dancing on her skin as a result.

It was astonishingly beautiful.

Better that nobody knew of it's rather artificial origin. They'd want to find out what caused it, and that would spoil it.

Sometimes beauty and nature was better left alone. Human intervention didn't always enhance nature's beauty.

With the preholiday preperations, people were everywhere, buying and looking at everything and with arms loaded with gifts and wishes of goodwill.

People around them were hugging, greeting, reuniting with each other for the holiday season. Everyone seemed very happy.

Both girls sensed that the other was without their families at this time and wanted to distract the other from perpetual gloom.

There were times when one really needed a friend.

"You see?" cried a nearby woman to a departing customer from a small shop--_strange, I don't remember a shop there_, thought Sharie--"Your fortune is just fine. All your family is safe. Happy holidays!"

The woman, her customer, was obviously grateful, for the apparent fortune-teller was paid well. The woman chuckled, pleased with herself, as she counted the cash.

"Oh, yes, how I _do_ like making them happy...."

She stopped, however, upon seeing the look on Sharie's and Sabrina's faces. She hastily stuffed the money in the pocket of her skirt and straightened, clearing her throat.

"Right, _ahem_, dearies," she made a beckoning motion as she stepped inside her shop. "Open for the holidays here only, I am! Read your fortunes. No fee too small. Pay me what you will. Come inside if you like."

The look on Sabrina's face was unmistakable. "Fraud!" she scoffed immediately. "I hate frauds! I can tell those from the true ones!"

Sharie blinked, suddenly getting a glimpse of the other side of Sabrina's well-reputed personality.

Aware that Sharie was staring at her, she blinked and stopped muttering. "True seers are rare, and most psychics do get occasional premonitions anyways," she said in defense of herself. "I certainly have, and do know how, though I'm not a skilled Seer because I've focused my power elsewhere. Haven't even _you, _Sharie?"

"Almost never," Sharie whispered, blushing and digging her hands deeper into the pockets of her jacket. "For all my psychic skills that is the one area where I haven't focused any of my powers. I don't care to. Once or twice only has images of the future come to me unbidden."

Sabrina nodded, apparently satisfied with this. "The fact alone you have further proves it. Besides, I long ago learned something about the fabric of space and time. The future is never certain. Even a Seer's prophecies can be diverted. What they see is the most likely scenario that will happen, but our control of our destinies is greater than that. Any small choice can change that future even without our being aware of it."

Sharie nodded. This was more familiar ground, although she'd never really dared discuss it with anyone before. "I don't concentrate on the future, but I am aware of the boundaries of space and time, and unfortunately, extremely sensetive to it."

"My Psychic Institute has a favored saying, one we picked up from an old TV show years ago." Here Sabrina made a face. "Although we could not deny it's insight. IDIC--Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. The future is like that. Any choice we might have made is played out elsewhere, in another time."

Sharie smiled slightly and nodded her head. She agreed with the idea. There were likely other times where her life had taken different paths, some radically different--and most likely many more where she didn't exist at all.

_How could I have turned out--there might even be timelines where my family is intact...._

A shadow crossed Sabrina's face for a moment, one of suppressed pain and memory--and then a flash of anger.

"If this woman is a fraud, I don't want her taking advantage of people! And during the holiday season--for shame!"

Sharie's face set into an unreadable mask. "I don't either, but I'm not about to storm her shop and demand she close. I don't read others' minds either unless there is a clear reason."

Sabrina quivered. She'd closed down frauds before. It wasn't something she was gleeful about doing, but her spite for frauds was strong.

Sharie saw the look in her eyes. "I have defrauded so-called Pokemon Translators before," She offered quietly. "Those people who pretend to understand a Pokemon's true language. I always saw right through them."

Sabrina paled and turned on her. "You can understand pokemon's talk? Like a pokemon?"

Sharie turned red and nodded her head. "I ask you to keep this a secret, as I don't generally like information like this to get around--I've had more than enough of people's reactions to it. Yes, I do, even pokemon I've never met before. Not just psychically. Their languages, itself. Their old-language all of them know and their sub-languages of each individual specie."

Sabrina had gone paler and paler when Sharie quietly revealed this. "Even I can't do that," she whispered. "Oh, I can get through psychically to an extent, but that isn't the same as understanding their language word-for-word. So few pokemon have shattered the language barrier between them and us--although I do know they understand what we say to them, they just can't make their words known to us."

Another shadow passed over her light violet gaze. "You are only the second person I've known who can," she whispered. "My sister could, too, and it wasn't until much later I discovered she had a very good reason....."

Sharie stared into her eyes for a moment, her own eyes like mirrors and showing nothing, before her unique green gaze returned to the shop.

Sabrina continued to stare at her, once again struck by the resemblence between this girl and her sister. _Oh, it's not exact.....my sister was much taller than this girl, she looks barely over five feet tall....and Sharie's hair is platinum, nearly white, and ringlet curly. Waist-length--I think--I can't tell when she has it twisted up like that. My sister's was waist-length too, but straight and a beautiful shade of brown, angelic hair of a different sort. But other than that.....Ooh, Ki, will you continue to haunt me, will my mistake always haunt me?_

She set her mouth hard. _ She's not Ki! There is no way in hell she could even be rela--_

A new thought twisted itself through her mind rather unbidden, but the obviousness of it made the thought jump at her. _Could she be? Could she be a relation by blood? It would explain so mu--_

The new thought settled in her mind for exactly two seconds before she banished it completely in a surge of self-anger. _Absolutely no way in hell! Ki was abandoned! No parents would abandon one child and raise another!!!_

"Let's go inside," she said suddenly, taking a surprised Sharie by the hand and leading her inside. "We'll see if she's a fraud or not."

Sharie had seen the warring emotions on her face out of the corner of her eye, including a flash of puzzlement about her, although for what she didn't pry into. She was still surprised, however, by the abrupt shift in Sabrina's motions.

So she made no objection when Sabrina drew her into the shop.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Eh--so you decided to come in, did you dearies?" Cackled the older woman as the girls entered.

"Yes," Said Sabrina in a no-nonsense tone. "We want you to read us our fortunes. I'm....curious....as to what methods you use."

Sharie looked around the walls. The walls were strangely devoid of the usual fortune-telling kicknacks and books she often associated with fortune-tellers, frauds or real. Only a medium-sized crystal ball, well-polished, stood in the center of the table.

Something sent a frission of sensation up Sharie's spine. That ball wasn't ordinary. It had recently been bombarded by....well, at least some psychic essences lately.

That alone told her this woman wasn't as fradulent as she could be.

"No major trick, dearie. I don't just look at you and simply 'know' personal information about you. And you won't see anything in my crystal ball there. It is simply for focus. I go into trances, and only vaguely recall them afterwards, like an echo. Will that do for you?"

The look on Sabrina's face registered surprise, and Sharie saw any thoughts of 'fraud' fade from her eyes. "Yes, thank you, it will."

"My fees are based upon your satisfaction of what you hear. All right?"

"That is fine."

"Excellent, my dear. I do believe you are psychic yourself? I pick up unusual vibrations from those who make regular practice of unearthing their hidden powers, so don't look so surprised. I even feel you came in here to check me for fraudulency."

Sabrina reddened.

The woman laughed, not at all offended. "Won't be the first time I've proved myself. Sit across from me, my dear."

Still red, Sabrina obeyed.

The woman closed her eyes, her hands upon the crystal ball, using it, like she had said, as a focus. It took on a cloudy essence before glowing a weak pink color.

If she were not psychic Sharie would not have seen it, but she suddenly saw Sabrina's aura glowing as the fortune-teller picked it up. It was red, and tinged just lightly with violet at the edges, rather like Sabrina's eyes.

Sharie didn't say anything, but she could pick up the almost imperceptible layer of gray in there, too--usually not even other psychics would have picked up on it. It indicated pain.

_I'm not surprised at that....._

Sharie was distracted by her further thoughts when the woman's eyes began to glow white, and her pupils disappeared. She took a deep breath and stood up, becoming rigid, and her hands dropped from the ball, whose pink color had rapidly elaborated itself become a glowing neon pink shade.

The woman's eyes changed, also began glowing a shade of white, obliterating their normal blue color.

The woman's voice changed, became slightly hoarse, and took on an echoing intonation--some psychics did this when they fell into a trance, Sharie knew. The sound didn't meld with her ears too well, and she was glad she didn't talk like that when her mind drifted in outer reaches.

_"Pain from both ends thrusted, pain from both ends felt the stab. The gaze of an innocent one reveals a ray of light and hope to erase the wounds, but only time will tell."_

Sabrina blinked.

So did Sharie.

Neither could make sense of what had been said.

Oh, it had been a real trance. One thing that did mystify Sharie is why some psychics who tried future-gazing ended up speaking in layered language and riddles. Few of them deliberately meant to, and Sharie picked up on the fact this woman was not one of those. Other psychics were clear in their words. Sharie only supposed it had to do with individual adaptation.

The crystal ball became gradually clear, and the woman's eyes returned to their normal shade. She came back into focus seeing Sabrina blink at her.

"Well, dearie? Did I pass your exam?" The woman chuckled, having seen that look before, many times.

"Could that be rendered again--in plain english?" asked Sabrina. "That was cryptic as all hell."

The fortune teller smirked, used to this, also. "Sorry, my dear, what comes out of my mouth is only a vague interpretation of images I see, and beyond my control. Most often times I cannot even recall the trances themselves. Sometimes I can."

Her brow furrowed at this as she tried to force images back. "I have some images in mind from yours. I do believe I stated something about the gaze of an innocent one, a ray of light and hope--I don't recall why, or who the innocent one would possibly be, I only sensed a gaze, as if someone was looking at me from behind me. I don't have a face for you, or any real description."

Slowly Sabrina nodded, still not sure what to make of it. "I see I will have to ponder on it, or wait for it to happen and see if it applies."

"Remember, my dear girl, about something like future-gazing. It may not happen at all. What presents itself to most fortune-tellers like myself is simply--"

"--One very likely course." Sabrina finished in time with her, familiar with this rhetoric. She knew full well the future was impossible to predict with complete accuracy. Anything could change it. Some upcoming paths were stronger than others, and that was often what was picked up on by those who tried to find them. There were even hints of other timelines the strongest psychics were said to have glimpsed.

The woman laughed softly. "Convinced I'm not a fraud?"

"Erm....yeah," said Sabrina faintly, still puzzling over the words she'd heard.

The woman laughed again, noticing that Sharie, who'd been very quiet, now had the corners of her full lips quirking upwards in amusement. "Your turn, my dear?"

Sharie was momentarily apprehensive. She did not want this woman viewing things that threatened her. If she remembered anything of her trance, Sharie knew what she would quietly have to do. Something she almost never dared to do, but she could not have strangers knowing her deepest secrets--ones that would ruin not only her life, but her family's.

She would protect them at all cost.

Sharie intended to make sure this woman didn't remember. The woman would never know her memory had been tinkered with--and neither would Sabrina.

Quietly she nodded her head.

Sabrina obligingly got up and let Sharie take the seat across from the woman.

The fortune-teller peered at her thoughtfully. "You've been so quiet, child. And your eyes are like mirrors. I hope this helps you."

Sharie smiled weakly.

The woman smiled at her encouragingly before placing her fingertips back on the crystal ball and momentarily closing her eyes.

She was apparently trying to will herself into a trance, but after several seconds, her face tensed up.

Her blue eyes flew open. "This isn't possible, child. Are you really there?"

Sharie blinked. "Of course I am."

"You are like reading a stone! It is like you aren't there!"

Understanding dawned in Sharie's unique green eyes. "I am psychic, also. My barriers tend to be high."

"So high that even your lifeforce is obliteraed from my senses? How do you come by such power?"

Sharie pressed her lips together tightly, giving the woman a silent warning with her eyes. "I was born with my powers. I've developed them since. That is all you need to know."

The woman blinked, still disbelieving, but finally shaking her head, deciding to keep her thoughts to herself, or she'd lose business. "I won't ask any more, if that is what you want, but can you please let at least a little of your essence through, or I can't do this."

Sharie nodded, not even blinking as for one moment, a narrow line of her aura crept around her body with a flash.

Sabrina blinked at the amethyst light for a moment, before opening her eyes again. For just a moment, she'd sensed Sharie's life force, too--but that was all. Not her feelings, or thoughts, or anything else--just the base feeling of life.

"That is enough--barely," conceded the fortune-teller quietly. "But I can work with it."

She closed her eyes, and when they opened, they were once again white.

The crystal ball went from pink to neon pink--and to Sharie's surprise, white.

Suddenly the woman began glowing white, and lifted several inches in the air.

Sharie started at feeling herself summarily lifted as well, and had to fight the urge to use her psychic powers to stop it. The intent wasn't malicious, but the woman must be seeing something or having trouble focusing. Sharie didn't know. She didn't dare try to read it.

The woman's chest seemed to spasm, and made a harsh noise. Sharie's senses started to buzz, and for once she didn't know why.

When the woman spoke, the voice was so thin and light she could barely be heard.

_"Your love, feeling undeserved in your soul but desperately wanting, one to fill in that gaping shadow of pain does not exist in this timeline."_

Immense shock shoved Sharie's heart right up into her throat. _ Oh, gods, is she telling me I will never love? Ever?_

Why should that bother her? She never intended to fall in love, or have a family. She could not inflict one like herself on another, only to disappoint--or even disgust--them.

The woman's voice continued over her tumulous thoughts.

_"A barrier breached may be your only chance, and then only if two hidden in the shadows bring themselves into the light. Another hidden shadow becomes illuminated when a critical need for help is thrust, and the life of an innocent whithers in the shadow of life and that beyond."_

Sharie could make no sense of the woman's words--at least, not consciously, but deep down, the words speared straight into the shadows of her soul and squeezed tightly, almost strangling her, constricting her breathing.

She had no idea why. But it hurt like hell.

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End file.
